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Gaza hunger crisis ripples across health sector as Israeli blockade endures

Gaza hunger crisis ripples across health sector as Israeli blockade endures

Time of India08-05-2025

Cairo/Geneva/Gaza: Palestinian baby Jenan Alskafi died in Gaza on Saturday after malnutrition and digestive problems, which her doctor said could not be treated because of a total
Israeli blockade
that aid agencies believe is undermining the entire population's health.
The four-month-old needed hypoallergenic milk formula - a normally common product now absent in Gaza - to help her with chronic diarrhea that caused malnutrition and left her too weak to fight infection, her doctor Ragheb Warsh Agha said from the Rantissi hospital in northern Gaza where Jenan died.
"I was torn into a thousand pieces," said Jenan's mother Aya Alskafi, describing the death of her baby, whose name means "paradise" in Arabic and who, according to her doctor, lost nearly half her bodyweight in her final days.
Israel cut most supplies into Gaza when the war began on October 7, 2023 with a Hamas attack, and although it allowed more aid into the enclave during a ceasefire from January, it imposed a total blockade when its devastating and deadly military campaign resumed in March.
The Israeli prime minister's office did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on malnutrition levels in Gaza and reports that vulnerable people, including children requiring supplements, had died as a result of the blockade.
Israeli officials have said they do not believe Gaza faces a hunger crisis, that enough aid has entered to sustain the enclave's population, and that they want to stop supplies coming under the control of Hamas.
Israel has also said it plans to expand its campaign, causing deepening distress for displaced Gazans.
With Gaza's fields inaccessible to civilians and its seas barred to fishermen, the territory depends almost entirely on food from outside, but the last delivery Israel allowed was on March 2, the final day of the ceasefire.
The United Nations and
international aid agencies
warn of an unfolding catastrophe, with U.N. humanitarian agency OCHA saying more than 2 million people - most of Gaza's population of 2.3 million - face severe food shortages.
Malnutrition is severely affecting children, pregnant women and people with chronic conditions, while also delaying the recovery of patients with serious war injuries, as aid stocks near depletion, several agencies said.
"The situation is getting worse every day. We have between 9,000-10,000 children who are treated for malnutrition," said Jonathan Crickx, communications head at the U.N. children's agency UNICEF.
Hunger is a particular problem because as well as hindering children's cognitive and physical development it weakens their immune systems and nearly all Gaza's people are homeless from the destruction caused by Israel's military campaign.
"You have a big pile of rubbish on top of which children are digging for a little bit of food. This is extremely concerning because it will definitely increase the number of children dying from preventable diseases," Crickx said.
The Gaza Health Ministry said at least 65,000 children have shown symptoms of malnutrition and the Gaza government media office said at least 57 people, mostly children, had died as a result of malnutrition since Israel closed the crossings on March 2. Both bodies are run by Hamas.
The Israeli prime minister's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the numbers.
MALNUTRITION
Hunger is not only aggravating health problems for children.
Medical charity MSF said it was seeing an increase in patients coming to hospitals with chronic diseases such as diabetes and hypertension who lack enough food or food with sufficient protein, nutrients and vitamins.
An MSF clinic in Gaza City has also seen more patients coming for treatment of severe wounds, their conditions worsened by lack of access to food and clean water, the charity said.
"We have to keep cases for months in the hospital while in a normal situation, they would have been treated in a few weeks," said MSF medical coordinator Julie Faucon.
There are 350,000 patients with chronic conditions in Gaza, including cancer and diabetes, according to U.N. data.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society, the local affiliate of the
International
Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, said it had no medication left for heart disease, hypertension, or diabetes, and no stocks of nutritional supplements or infant formula.
"Ambulances can barely run. Without food, water, medical supplies, or fuel, survival is becoming even more difficult. Humanitarian aid must enter into the Gaza Strip," it said in a statement to Reuters.
Pregnant women are at particular risk. "We stand up and get dizzy due to a lack of food. There are no eggs, meat, food, or drink. We are tired. We came to get pills, if we can find them, just so we can stand and move," said Ola al-Kafarna, a displaced pregnant woman.
Between 10-20% of 4,500 surveyed pregnant and breastfeeding women are malnourished, the World Health Organization reported in April. Malnourished pregnant women face issues including anemia, fatigue and preterm labour.
"They [mothers] are not getting enough calories a day and they are not producing milk. It's very difficult at the same time to find infant formula," Faucon said.

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At least 36 Palestinians killed trying to obtain aid in Gaza, say officials
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At least 36 Palestinians killed trying to obtain aid in Gaza, say officials

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36 Palestinians killed trying to obtain desperately needed aid in Gaza, officials say
36 Palestinians killed trying to obtain desperately needed aid in Gaza, officials say

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  • Time of India

36 Palestinians killed trying to obtain desperately needed aid in Gaza, officials say

Live Events People are killed just trying to get food The UN has rejected the new aid system (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel Palestinians desperately trying to access aid in Gaza came under fire again on Tuesday, killing 36 people and wounding 207, the Palestinian Health Ministry and humanitarian aid workers say Israel 's blockade and 20-month military campaign have pushed Gaza to the brink of least 163 people have been killed and 1,495 wounded in a number of shootings near aid sites run by the Israeli and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which are in military zones that are off-limits to independent media. The Israeli military has acknowledged firing warning shots on previous occasions at people who it says approached its forces in a suspicious foundation says there has been no violence in or around the distribution points themselves. But it has warned people to stay on designated access routes and it paused delivery last week while it held talks with the military on improving Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday there is "meaningful progress" on a possible ceasefire deal that would also return some of the 55 hostages still being held in Gaza, but said it was "too early to hope." Foreign Minister Gideon Saar also mentioned on Tuesday that there was progress in ceasefire was meeting with the Israeli negotiating team and the defence minister on Tuesday evening to discuss next southern Gaza, at least eight people were killed while trying to obtain aid around Rafah, according to Nasser northern Gaza, two men and a child were killed and at least 130 were wounded on on Tuesday, according to Nader Garghoun, a spokesperson for the al-Awda Hospital, which received the casualties. 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"Every day, people are killed just trying to get food for their children."Additionally, three Palestinian medics were killed in an Israeli strike on Tuesday in Gaza City, according to the health medics from the health ministry's emergency service were responding to an Israeli attack on a house in Jaffa street in Gaza City when a second strike hit the building, the ministry said. 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Israel-Gaza conflict: 36 Palestinians killed in gunfire while waiting for aid; 200 injured
Israel-Gaza conflict: 36 Palestinians killed in gunfire while waiting for aid; 200 injured

Time of India

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Israel-Gaza conflict: 36 Palestinians killed in gunfire while waiting for aid; 200 injured

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